Ghana Moves To Solve Energy Dispute With Nigeria

BBC

Ghana is hoping to reach a deal with Nigeria this week over a US$103m (£70m) unpaid bill for gas after Nigeria's gas company suspended its threat to cut supplies. Ghana has struggled to pay its Nigerian gas bill after the Volta River Authority (VRA) utility ran out of money because it stopped borrowing funds from banks as interest rates soared during the country's financial crisis.

Saudi Arabia Hajj Disaster Death Toll At Least 2,121

Iranian woman grieving as she awaits news of loved ones; Iran leads all the affected countries, saying it had 465 pilgrims killed.

The crush and stampede that struck the hajj last month in Saudi Arabia killed at least 2,121 pilgrims, a new Associated Press tally showed Monday, after officials in the kingdom met to discuss the tragedy. The toll keeps rising from the Sept. 24 disaster outside Mecca as individual countries identify bodies and work to determine the whereabouts of hundreds of pilgrims still missing. The official Saudi toll of 769 people killed and 934 injured has not changed since Sept. 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdul Aziz, who is also the kingdom's interior minister, oversaw a meeting late Sunday about the disaster in Mina, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. The agency's report did not mention any official response to the rising death toll.

BBC Journalist Found Hanged At Istanbul Airport, Friends Allege Murder

Former BBC journalist Jacky Sutton

Jacky Sutton, a British BBC journalist and acting director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), has been found dead at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport after missing a connecting flight to Iraq.  Sutton, 50, was found hanged in a toilet cubicle in the early hours of Sunday morning after missing her connecting flight from Istanbul to Erbil, Iraq, which departed at 12:15am.

According to airport staff, Sutton appeared distressed when she was told she had to buy another ticket.

She was found dead a few hours later.

FOR THE RECORD: Nigeria Must Do More To Stop Gas Flaring By Oil Companies – French Ambassador

Amb. Stephane Gompertz, France's Ambassador for Climate Change (Africa)

France on Sunday urged the Nigerian government to caution all relevant authorities to drastically limit gas emissions because of its consequences on the environment. Stephane Gompertz, France’s Ambassador for Climate Change (Africa), made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.

According to him, the country should reduce the flaring of its gas, and should also increase its investment in renewable energy.

Mr. Gompertz regretted that many oil companies in the country still flared their gas and thereby pollute the environment with its attendant consequences.

Tuition Fee Protests Shut Down 2 Of SA’s Biggest Universities

Wits students embark on a protest over an increase on the tuition fees on October 14, 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

South Africa’s biggest universities have been affected by student protests over rising tuition fees that have spread from Wits to the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Rhodes University. Students at Rhodes University have this morning blocked all entrances to the university. Management is meeting some students and SRC representatives this morning.

Rhodes SRC president Zikisa Maqubela says protesters are demanding lower fees and a cut to the proposed 50 percent increase in the initial minimum payment, which they’ve described as “exclusionary fees”.

Horror On Lisbon-Dublin Flight As Man Dies After “Running Amok” & Biting Passenger

© Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

In a bizarre and terrifying incident, a 24-year-old man has died on a Dublin-bound flight after “running amok,” and biting another passenger. The crew described him as being, “extremely violent.” The Aer Lingus flight took off from Lisbon, Portugal and was en route to Dublin, Ireland.

All of a sudden a man "ran amok" across the cabin, bit a fellow passenger and had to be restrained by the crew. He injured “one or two passengers.”

Nigerian Journalist Arrested In Niger

Lawan Adamu (Image source: Daily Trust)

A Nigerian journalist working for the privately-owned Daily Trust newspaper has been arrested in neighbouring Niger. Lawan Adamu was investigating the story of migration of Africans to Europe through Niger's town of Agadez when he was detained by local officials on Saturday, the paper's editor, Mannir Dan Ali, told the BBC Hausa service.

FOR THE RECORD: Bayelsa, Kogi Governorship Elections, Others Would Be Illegal, Unless … – Falana

Femi Falana (Image source: Channels Television)

Should the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi take place as scheduled, they could be declared illegal by the court, a senior lawyer has said. Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, explained that the Independent National Electoral Commission as presently constituted lacks the power to fix dates for election and conduct them.

In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Falana said that the electoral commission is currently constituted by two national commissioners and therefore cannot take any valid decision.

“In other words, as the INEC is not validly constituted as required by section 159 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, its decisions are liable to be set aside,” Mr. Falana said, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

“Even when the INEC was constituted by a chairman ‎and three other national commissioners in 2010, the Federal High Court held that the electoral body was not competent to take any decision.”

Americans Commence Drone Operations Over Sambisa

US government announced sending 300 troops along with surveillance drones to Cameroon to bolster a West African effort to counter the Boko Haram sect.

Troops from the United States of America (USA) yesterday commenced drone surveillance over Sambisa forest in Borno State, North East Nigeria. News correspondents gathered that many Boko Haram militants have been spotted by the troops inside Sambisa forest. Sambisa forest is widely believed to be the fortress of the notorious Boko Haram sect. It is said to be one of the locations where the insurgents are believed to be holding some of the over 200 school girls who were abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state in April, 2014.

It would be recalled that the US government recently said it was sending 300 troops along with surveillance drones to Cameroon to bolster a West African effort to counter the Boko Haram sect.

Nigeria and Cameroon had welcomed the US’ decision.

African Union Decides To Impose Targeted Sanctions On Burundi

President Nkurunziza's controversial third term has plunged Burundi into serious crisis with scores of fatalities

The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) has decided to impose sanctions against Burundian stake holders, who contribute to the perpetuation of violence and impede the search for a solution to the crisis facing the country. The decision came on Saturday during the 551st meeting on the prevailing situation in Burundi of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) held in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

The Council "decides, in support of the efforts to find an early and consensual solution to the crisis facing Burundi, to impose targeted sanctions, including travel ban and asset freeze, against all the Burundian stakeholders whose actions and statements contribute to the perpetuation of violence and impede the search for a solution," said the Communiqué of the meeting.

Guinea: Alpha Condé Wins Second Term As President

Guinea's President Alpha Condé sits in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 15, 2015. Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

Guinea's President Alpha Condé has won a second term, the country's election commission has announced, six days after polling ended. Mr Condé, 77, won in the first round with about 58% of votes cast. Main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, who has denounced the vote as fraudulent, won 31%. He has called for peaceful protests against the outcome.

European Union observers said the vote was valid despite some logistical problems.

Candidates now have eight days to file complaints before the constitutional court validates the results.

However, Mr Diallo said in a statement he would not appeal to the court.

Man Stabs German Mayoral Candidate In The Neck Over Refugee Policy

First aid equipment lies on the ground next to an election campaign poster of Henriette Reker in Cologne, Germany October 17, 2015. © Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

A leading candidate running for mayor of the German city of Cologne has been stabbed in the neck and seriously injured just a day before the elections. According to police, she was attacked because of her support for German refugee policy. Henriette Reker, an independent candidate running for mayor of Cologne, was attacked by a man armed with a “20 centimeter-long” knife when she stopped at an information stand for the Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party (CDU). Her aide as well as three other people that tried to stop the attacker were also injured in the incident.

"She had arrived here just a few minutes before ... She was talking to two other party members when it happened," Bernd Petelkau, a local CDU official, said as quoted by Reuters.

Ebola: Laboratory Test Of Suspected Patient Proves Negative, Says FG

Stop Ebola Campaign

• Suspects poisoning, intoxication

The cause of the recent death of the University of Calabar undergraduate in mysterious circumstances at the UNICAL Teaching Hospital remains unknown, it was learnt yesterday. There were fears that he may have died of Ebola.

However, latest results from further laboratory test carried out on his remains were negative for all known pathogenic viruses, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, said in a statement.

Swiss Suggest Their FIFA Probe Could Take Five Years

FIFA, Zurich

Switzerland's Attorney General has suggested that an investigation into alleged corruption at soccer's Swiss-based governing body, FIFA, could take five years.

"Realistically, in all big investigations, longer than five years is bad," Michael Lauber told SRF radio in an interview broadcast on Saturday. "It always depends on how the parties to the investigations work with the attorney general."

Lauber said last month the probe, which began in March, had not yet reached the half-way mark.

FOR THE RECORD: Governor El-Rufai Threatens To Arrest Parents Whose Children Are Out Of School

Governor Nasir El-Rufai addressing the press

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has vowed to arrest parents who refuse to send their children to school. He also threatened to sanction any religious leader that preaches against western education.

Speaking during a town hall meeting with the people of Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone on Saturday, Governor El-Rufai noted that the north was educationally backward, because most parents had refused to allow their children to go to school and acquire western education.

The Governor stated that, with the measures being put in place by his administration to provide free tuition fees, free meals, free uniforms and qualitative infrastructure in public schools, parents have no excuse not to educate their children.

South African Woman Accused Of Trying To Sell Child On Gumtree Charged With Human Trafficking

Infographic: Gumtree says the advertisement was removed as soon as it was brought to their attention (Gumtree)

A South African woman has been charged with human trafficking after allegedly trying to sell a child for 5,000 rand (US$525) on the trading website Gumtree, police say. The 20-year-old was arrested during an undercover operation following a tip-off from a member of the public.

"We met her and there was an exchange of money with an undercover police officer," Hangwani Mulaudzi, spokesman for the Hawks special crimes investigation unit said.

"We arrested her directly."

The 19-month-old boy was in good health and has been taken into care by social workers.

Gas Continues To Flow From Nigeria To Ghana

BBC

Ghana's Daily Graphic is leading this morning on a deal between Ghana and Nigeria over the gas supply. Nigeria had been threatening to cut off most of its gas supply to Ghana by last night if the government failed to clear its debt with the West African Gas Pipeline Company.

Ghana currently owes more than US$100m (£65m) to the company - but it now appears that talks will continue on how to retrieve the unpaid money.

How Agencies Defraud Govt, By Central Bank

CBN Office, Abuja

The Federal Government has uncovered agencies which pay it in naira after collecting revenue in dollar. It has launched a probe into the agencies’ “fraudulent activities”, Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade told reporters yesterday after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN). NEC comprises the vice president as chairman; the 36 state governors and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor are members.

Some of the agencies, Ayade said, were the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Buhari, Abdulsalami In Closed-Door Meeting

Buhari, Abdulsalami

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met behind closed-doors with former Head of State, retired General Abdusalami Abubakar at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja. The meeting, which was described as strictly private, took place at the president’s office and lasted 25 minutes.

The former head of state arrived the Presidential Villa at 3.30pm and left at 3.55pm without speaking to journalists.

Pistorius Parole: South Africa Women's Group Happy

Jacqui Mofokeng advised the Steenkamp family (Photo: Getty Images)

The group that petitioned South Africa's justice minister about Oscar Pistorious' parole says it is happy it managed to get his release delayed by two months and that it did not happen in August when women's month is marked.

The Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa, which includes the governing African National Congress Women's League, had said that would have been "an insult" to victims of abuse.

"We want to thank the justice minister for receiving our petition and realizing that there was something wrong with parole process," Jacqui Mofokeng, one of the group's leaders, told me.